7°37′38″S111°7′52″E / 7.62722°S 111.13111°E /-7.62722; 111.13111
Sukuh (Indonesian:Candi Sukuh,Indonesian pronunciation:[ˈtʃandiˈsukʊh]) is a 15th-centuryJavanese-Hindu temple (candi) that is located in Berjo, Ngargoyoso district,Karanganyar Regency,Central Java,Indonesia on the western slope ofMount Lawu (elevation 910 metres (2,990 ft)).This temple has a height of 8,7 meters.Sukuh temple has a distinctive thematic relief from other candi where life before birth and sexual education are its main themes. Its main monument is a simple pyramid structure with reliefs and statues in front of it, including three tortoises with flattened shells and a male figure grasping his penis. A giant 1.82 m (6 ft) high ofShishna with four testes, representingpenile incisions,[1] was one of the statues that has been relocated to theNational Museum of Indonesia.
Sukuh is one of several temples built on the northwest slopes ofMount Lawu in the 15th century. By this time, Javanese religion and art had diverged from Indian precepts that had been so influential on temple styles during the 8th–10th centuries. This was the last significant area of temple building inJava before the island's courts were converted to Islam in the 16th century. It is difficult for historians to interpret the significance of these antiquities due to the temple's distinctiveness and the lack of records of Javanese ceremonies and beliefs of the era.[2]
The founder of Candi Sukuh thought that the slope of Mount Lawu was a sacred place for worshiping the ancestors and nature spirits and for observance of the fertility cults.[3] The monument was built around 1437, as written as achronogram date on the western gate, meaning that the area was under the rule of theMajapahit Kingdom during its end (1293–1500). Some archaeologists believe the founder had cast the fall of Majapahit, based on the reliefs that display the feud between two aristocratic houses, symbolizing two internal conflicts in the kingdom.[4]
In 1815,Sir Thomas Raffles, the ruler of Java from 1811–1816, visited the temple and found it in bad condition.[5] In his account, many statues had been thrown down on the ground and most of the figures had been decapitated. Raffles also found the giantlingga statue broken into two pieces, which were then glued together.[5]
The central pyramid of the complex sits at the rear of the highest of three terraces. Originally, worshippers would have accessed the complex through a gateway at the western or lowest terrace. To the left of the gate is a carving of a monster eating a man, birds in a tree, and a dog, which is thought to be achronogram representing 1437 CE, the likely date of the temple's consecration. There is an obvious depiction ofsexual intercourse in relief on the floor at the entrance where it shows a pairedlingam which is represented physiologically by thephallus andyoni, which is represented bodily by thevulva. Genitalia is portrayed on several statues from the site, which is unique among Javanese classical monuments.
The main structure of the Sukuh temple is a truncatedpyramid surrounded bymonoliths and meticulously carved life-sized figures. The Sukuh temple does not follow the Hindu architecture of Wastu Vidya because it was built after the Hindu religion had weakened. Temples usually have a rectangular or square shape, but the Sukuh temple is a trapezium with three terraces, with one terrace higher than the others.[6] A stone stairway rises through the front side of the pyramid to its summit. It is not known what the monument's unique shape was intended to symbolize. One suggestion is that it represents a mountain. There is no evidence that the main building supported a wooden structure. The only object recovered from its summit was a 1.82-metrelingga statue bearing an inscription, which is now in theNational Museum of Indonesia. The statue may once have stood on the platform over the stairway. Thelingga statue has a dedicated inscription carved from top to bottom representing avein followed by a chronogram date equivalent to 1440. The inscription translates "Consecration of theHoly Ganges sudhi in ... the sign of masculinity is the essence of the world."[3] Reliefs of akris blade, an eight-pointed sun, and acrescent moon decorate the statue.
The wall of the main monument has a relief portraying two men forging a weapon in asmithy with a dancing figure of Ganesha, the most important Tantric deity, having a human body and the head of an elephant. In Hindu-Java mythology, the smith is thought to possess not only the skill to alter metals but also the key to spiritual transcendence.[5] Smiths drew their powers to forge akris from the god of fire and a smithy is considered as a shrine. Hindu-Javanese kingship was sometimes legitimated and empowered by the possession of akris.
The elephant head figure with a crown in the smithy relief depictsGanesha, the god who removes obstacles inHinduism. The Ganesha figure, however, differs in some small respects from other usual depictions. Instead of sitting, the Ganesha figure in Candi Sukuh's relief is shown dancing and it has distinctive features including the exposed genitalia, the demonicphysiognomy, the strangely awkward dancing posture, the rosary bones on its neck and holding a small animal, probably a dog. The Ganesha relief in Candi Sukuh has a similarity with theTantric ritual found in thehistory of Buddhism in Tibet written byTaranatha.[5] The Tantric ritual is associated with several figures, one of whom is described as the "King of Dogs" (Sanskrit:Kukuraja), who taught his disciples by day, and by night performedGanacakra in a burial ground orcharnel ground.
Other statues in Candi Sukuh include a life-sized male figure with his hand grasping his ownpenis and three flattened shells oftortoises. Two largetortoise statues guard the pyramid entrance and the third one lies at some distance in front of the monument. All of their heads point to the west and their flattened shells may providealtars for purification rituals and ancestor worship.[3] In Hindu mythology, the tortoise symbolizes the base or support of the World and is an avatar of Vishnu, i.e.Kurma refers toOcean of Milk.
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